Helping Her
by demon-angel-325
Summary: At Gotham Academy, Dick is Artemis's tutor. When she confides in him about her crush on Roy, he pushes aside his own feelings to help her.


Artemis sat at the table in the library, her hands clasped together and her thumbs twiddling. Her tutor and friend sat across from her, ready to start the session but knowing something was up. He waited patiently as Artemis stared at her rotating thumbs for another 30 seconds before looking up at him.

"Hey Dick…" she mumbled. "Do you ever have… like… girl problems?" Dick sat in his seat, blinking back his surprise before smiling.

"Do I look like a guy with girl problems?" he let out a small laugh. Sure, Dick Grayson never had girl problems. Robin, on the other hand, had quite a few. His recent little crush on Artemis, for instance, that seemed to pop out of nowhere…

"Why? You having girl problems?" he asked sarcastically before realizing that statement could be interpreted in two different ways.

"Hilarious Grayson," Artemis said, pulling her hands apart. "It's just… I sort of have guy problems… You know. Teenage hormones out of control." Dick nodded his head, not surprised in the least that she was coming to him about all this. It had been about two months ago that Dick had been asked to spend his study hall to tutor other students in math. He accepted, only to find himself paired with Artemis. Since then, the two had gotten close. Really close. Dick even accidently slipped about his connection to Haly's Circus, seeing her tense up as she obviously remembered their mission there with the Parasite.

He also knew what her boy problems were. She and Wally had broken up a little while ago. They had both agreed that there just wasn't that spark anymore. Besides, Wally had met a girl that he seemed head-over-heels in love with. Dick expected this talk because just recently, Wally had announced how serious he and Linda had been getting. It wasn't rare for a girl to suddenly want her ex back after seeming him happy with another girl.

"There's this boy…" Artemis started, beginning to twiddle her thumbs again which, by the way, Dick was starting to get really annoyed with. Like _seriously_, who twiddles their thumbs?

"Wally?" he asked right away.

To his surprise, she shook her head. "No. Different boy."

Robin raised his eyebrows. She couldn't mean… No… she couldn't. That was just impossible.

"Ever since the breakup with Wally I have been sorta… leaning on him for support. Going to him more. Thinking about him more…" Her voice died off. Dick could hardly believe his ears. She did mean it. Artemis had been spending more and more time with Roy recently. Ever since his attraction to Cheshire became more than obvious, he had let Artemis in almost completely. Roy and Green Arrow practically shared her as a protégé now.

"And he likes someone else… doesn't he?" Dick asked cautiously. Artemis shrugged her shoulders but wouldn't look him in the eye.

"Artemis. It's okay, I know how you feel." He said. She looked up suddenly, bewildered and he nearly cursed aloud at himself. So much for Dick Grayson not having girl problems.

"Whoa Grayson. There's a girl? Tell me! Tell me everything!" Artemis said, leaning forward on the table and supporting her face with her fist, her own problems forgotten.

"There's just a girl. I like her. She doesn't like me." Dick shrugged. "That's everything."

"Well who is it? Aw, Grayson! Your first little crush. This is just too adorable." Artemis grinned widely at him.

"Can we get back to your problems now, please?" he muttered, not liking the use of the word 'adorable'.

Artemis sighed and leaned back into her chair. "Fine," she muttered. "Well he likes this other girl. She's much prettier than me and I don't stand much of a chance."

Dick didn't know what to say. He couldn't tell her to go after Roy. Roy liked Jade. A lot. He couldn't tell her to give up, though. What kind of a crappy friend would he be if he was like 'Well you don't stand a chance so suck it up'?

"Well you don't want anyone to get hurt do you? Is this girl your friend?" Dick asked cautiously, forming a plan in his head as he went along.

The edges of Artemis's lips curved in a small smile. "Yeah. We're really close actually." Artemis's smiled faded. "Which is why this is so hard."

"Try distancing yourself then. Let the crush die down." Dick said. "You're going to suffer a little heart ache but isn't that better than the alternative?" Dick knew he was walking on thin ice with his advice but he just didn't know what else to say. He looked into Artemis's eyes, scared about what she might say.

"Yeah. You're right. It'd be best for all three of us if I didn't say a word. I mean… it's just a petty crush." Artemis looked at Dick and smiled. "Thanks Grayson. I knew you'd try and actually help me. I prefer your honesty to other people's 'OMG forget her. Go after your man.'" Artemis said that last bit in an overly nasal voice while waving her arms dramatically.

Dick couldn't help but laugh.

* * *

That night at the cave, Robin sat at the kitchen counter, waiting for Artemis. He had a deck of cards sitting on the counter, ready to be dealt. It was Thursday. Every Thursday, he and Artemis played card games until she left with Roy to patrol.

He sat patiently until Artemis finally entered the kitchen. She looked at Robin, shot him a smile, and then made her way over to the fridge before pulling out a water bottle, chugging half of it down.

"Ready to play?" Robin asked, presenting the cards to her.

"Sorry Robin but I got to go. I'll be spending all night with Green Arrow. He's got this really cool new type of arrow that he wants to show me. It uses this really cool, advance tech. He said I could practice with it so I can be prepared to use it in the field." She quickly chugged down the rest of her water.

Robin frowned at her. "All night? What about patrolling with Roy?" He knew that's what this was about but he wanted to get a reaction out of her. He was rather upset that Artemis's ploy to get out of spending time with Roy cut into their weekly game night but he let it slide.

Artemis frowned at him. "Roy can handle himself," she said a little too forcefully. Then she directed her attention to the deck in his hands. "And you can get someone to play with you. I'm pretty sure M'Gann's free. Or Zatanna. Maybe Kaldur."

It took all of Robin's willpower not to sigh in disappointment. Sure, it was his idea for her to keep her distance from Roy but why would she choose an activity that took so long?

Artemis tossed her water bottle into the trashcan before leaving Robin alone in the kitchen. When he knew Artemis was out of earshot, he slammed his fist on the counter. _Damn that Dick Grayson and his stupid advice!_

* * *

He and Artemis were back in the library, pretending to study. Finally, Dick couldn't take it anymore and covered up Artemis's book with his hand. Artemis raised her head in confusion.

"How'd it go? Did you avoid him?" Dick asked.

Artemis nodded her head. "Yeah, a little too well actually." She sighed. "I didn't want to seem like I was purposely avoiding him so I gave a pretty believable excuse which totally contradicts the whole 'drifting apart'…" Artemis used air quotes. "…kind of thing I was going for."

"Well what'd you say?"

"I told him that I wanted to hang out with my uncle instead. My reasoning behind it was too believable. And then I had to tell the same lie to another one of my friends because I didn't want it getting back to the guy that I had intentionally made these plans just to avoid him. I felt really bad that in order to avoid the guy I like, I had cancel plans with my friend. He didn't seem too happy that I ditched him."

Dick nearly scowled. Had his anger at not having their weekly game night really been that obvious? He needed to keep himself composed more. What was wrong with him?

"So you actually did hang out with your uncle?" Dick asked.

Artemis nodded. "Yeah but the entire time I couldn't stop thinking about him."

"Can I get a name please?" Dick asked, thinking one day his tongue might slip and he'd say 'Roy' instead of 'him'."

Artemis smiled and shook her head. "Nope. No names." Artemis winked at him. "Just to drive you crazy." Dick could feel himself blushing but he quickly played it off.

"Well I can't keep calling this guy 'he'." He mumbled.

"Fine. Code-name then. How 'bout Tee?"

Dick looked at her, unamused. "You want me to call the guy a letter?"

"No. T-E-E. Like the type a shirt." She smiled at herself for her creativity.

"Fine. Whatever. Now back to… Tee." He couldn't believe the ridiculousness of the 'code-name'. "Its' expected for you to think about him. It's only been a day. Give yourself time. You'll get over him soon enough. Maybe find someone more suited for you. Maybe that friend you cancelled with for instance…"

Artemis's eyes went wide. "What? No! Ew!"

Dick could feel his heart break.

* * *

That night at the cave, Dick decided to do some warm ups before Black Canary did her combat lesson at 8. Making his way to the training room, he found Artemis practicing her aim with arrows. Not like she needed it. She hit the bull's-eye every time.

Ignoring her, he stuck to the gymnastics equipment. After 20 minutes of flips and other such tricks he snuck a glance at Artemis to see that she was out of arrows now. She was beginning to dislodge them from their targets when Roy entered the training room.

"Artemis, want to spar real quick before your combat lesson?" Roy asked. Robin gritted his teeth as he hopped up onto the rings.

Artemis ripped out another arrow. "Can't you see I'm busy Roy? If you need someone to spare with, I'm sure Robin can take you on."

Roy frowned. "What's with you? First you punk out of patrol and now you won't spar with me? Did I piss you off or something?"

Robin got off the rings and sat down on a bench, grabbing a water bottle and drinking. He was interested to hear what came next.

"Nothing's wrong. I was with Green Arrow yesterday and now I'm just busy. Gosh Roy, way to look into things." Artemis said annoyed. Roy looked at Artemis a little shocked but didn't say anything.

Artemis sighed. "Sorry. Didn't mean that. Yeah I'll spar with you. Just let me get these last arrows out," She gestured to the dozen or so arrows still lodged in their targets. "Be out in a sec." Roy nodded his head before leaving the training room. Robin felt disappointed in her. It was only the second day and she was already going against the keeping distance thing.

Feeling he should say something, he took a towel and began to wipe off the sweat on his face and he strolled over to her. "Hey Artemis?"

"Hmm?" she asked, not looking at him as she pulled out three more arrows at once.

"Do you ever disappoint yourself? Like saying you're going to do something but you don't?" he asked. He knew he was acting like a jerk but he was angry at her for giving in so quickly.

Artemis sighed. "Robin, where's this coming from?"

Robin shrugged. "Just curious."

She sighed again. "Well, to please your detective side. Yes I have. I actually should be doing something that I told a friend from school I would." She pursed her lips. "It's hard though."

"Really?" he asked with a smirk. "And what would that be?"

"That," she said snidely "is none of your business." She pulled the last arrows out and set them aside before making her way to the door. She suddenly stopped, turned around, and looked at him.

"Sorry that was rude," she apologized. Then her face changed, as if she was suddenly struck with a thought. "How about we play cards tonight? Make up for yesterday?"

Robin smiled and nodded his head. "Yeah. I kind of like that idea."

Artemis smiled before exiting the training room. Robin could feel butterflies in his stomach and he quickly wiped off the towel from around his neck jumped onto a treadmill. Maybe he could burn those butterflies away? Sadly, butterflies don't work like calories.

* * *

"You hung out with Tee, didn't you?" Dick said. He and Artemis were at Wayne Manor, sitting at the dining room table with various textbooks open. It was a Saturday and they usually didn't tutor Saturdays but Artemis had a huge test on Monday that she wasn't ready for.

Artemis's eyes went wide. "How'd you know?" Dick could barely contain his anger. About midway through their card game, Roy had come and challenged Artemis to an archer's duel. She was quick to jump at the idea, leaving Robin there alone.

"You won't look me in the eye," he said.

"Oh. Well yeah. I just… I couldn't help myself. I wanted to be with him and he wanted to be with me. Not romantically but he obviously wanted to hang out with me. We are still friends and everything."

Dick sighed. "Artemis, you're only hurting yourself."

"I know. I just… it's hard. Won't happen again. I promise." Then they dropped the subject, bringing their attention to the textbooks so that Dick could do his job as a tutor.

* * *

Sunday, Artemis didn't even show up at Mount Justice! She did, though, go on patrol with Green Arrow that night. Robin's heart ached the whole night. He wanted to hang out with Artemis. He wanted to find an excuse to keep her to himself and away from Roy the rest of the day so that she wouldn't be tempted to go and spend time with him again.

He was starting to second guess his advice. Artemis tried too hard to stay away from Roy and it was taking away his time with Artemis. Then it dawned on him. Why didn't he take his own advice? Why didn't he distance himself from her like she was doing to Roy? He felt stupid.

Leaving the mountain that night, he knew what he had to do. He had to quit as Artemis's tutor and stay as far away from her when they were at Mount Justice as possible. He was putting himself through the same heartache that he warned Artemis about. It had to stop. Now.

* * *

Dick waited at the table for Artemis. He planned to drop the news to her about quitting as her tutor after this tutoring session, it'd be too awkward to do it before.

When Artemis walked in, she plopped in the chair and sighed. "Maybe I should just call Wally. Get him to tell Tee about my crush on him."

"Wally?" Dick asked.

Artemis looked at him in surprise. "Oh, I didn't tell you? Wally is his best friend."

* * *

Artemis walked up to the telephone booth, pushing the doors to walk in when suddenly hands grabbed her arms from behind. She reached for her bow but she was quickly turned around to see Robin smirking at her.

"My god, Robin. You can't sneak up on me like that. I could've sent an arrow right through-" she was cut off by a warm pair of lips. Robin's lips.

Shocked by the kiss, Artemis didn't return it but she also didn't pull back. Robin smiled into the kiss before pulling back and looking at her shocked face.

"Wha-what was that?" she asked, a dazed look on her face.

Robin smiled cockily. "A kiss." He tapped the wooden box that he was standing on with his foot so that they were eye-to-eye.

Artemis looked at him. "What about Zatanna?" Robin nearly laughed in her face. Zatanna? That's who she thought was a threat? Really?

"I don't feel about Zatanna the way I feel about you." He brought his hand to her cheek. "We flirt, yes, but there's no romance there. None."

Artemis stared at him for a second before bringing her lips back to his, this time fully participating in the kiss. Robin felt the butterflies return but this time, he welcomed them.

The kiss was sweet and when Artemis pulled away, there was a wide grin on her face. She brought her forehead to his. "If I thought you thought of me like this…"

"You wouldn't have avoided me?" he asked, being his regular cocky self despite the fact that he hadn't even notice that she was avoiding him until earlier that day.

She looked into his eyes and gave a small smile. "Yeah. Sorry about that. I took advice from this kid at school. I told him you liked a good friend of mine and he said to avoid the drama and heart ache… I should just avoid you. Stupid idea but I didn't know what else to do."

Robin tried not to get insulted by her calling his idea stupid. "I understand. You didn't want to make things awkward on the Team. You didn't want to make it look to Zatanna that you were trying to steal her guy." He pecked her lips again. "I'm just glad I finally realized you liked me back."

She blushed as he wrapped his arms around her waist and held her close. "Me too," she whispered before they pulled into a heated kiss.

* * *

The next day, Dick sat at his and Artemis's designated table in the library. She walked in with a wide grin. Dick raised his eyebrows, pretending not to understand what was going on. She sat down in her seat opposite him, happiness just overflowing from her.

"Grayson! You'll never believe what happened?"

Dick tried to hide his smile but he would feel the edges of his lips curl up. "What?"

* * *

Epilogue

They had been dating two years now. Robin had an impressive growth spurt and the couple was much less awkward looking. Robin had swept Artemis off her feet and he knew it too. Every time she saw him, she would light up, unable to contain her happiness. Robin also couldn't help but feel whole when Artemis was around. The two quickly became the cutest couple in the cave. And Wally had been oddly very accepting of the relationship, having already fallen hard for Linda when they announced they were a couple.

They were out on a date for their two year anniversary. Robin had picked a very nice restaurant to have dinner and then they walked through a park in Star City, since none of the parks in Gotham were all that romantic.

Artemis and Robin made it to a bench and she kissed him tenderly. She had gotten into the habit of not getting rough with her kisses when he wore his sunglasses, only his mask. She respected that fact that he concealed his identity, probably because she concealed her own for so long.

The bench was next to a lake that reflected the moon's glow. Light noises of Star City at night became their soundtrack. Robin brought Artemis close to him and they cuddled on the bench. This was perfect. She was perfect. Everything was working out for him. Except for one thing.

Her head was nestled into his neck and he leaned forward and planted a kiss on her forehead. "Artemis" he murmured into her hair.

"Hmm?" she asked peacefully, her eyes closed. Robin shrugged her off his shoulder and she lifted her head and looked at him in confusion. He leaned forward and kissed her quickly on the lips before lifting his hands to his sunglasses and slowly taking them off, keeping his eyes on her to make sure he didn't miss a second of her reaction. He was honestly scared of how she might take this but she deserved to know.

At first she was surprised and happy when he began to take off the glasses but when they were all the way off she looked completely shocked as she recognized the boy before her as her friend from school.

"Grayson?" she asked quietly, as if she was scared to be wrong.

Dick swallowed. "Yeah, it's me." The look of shock stayed on her face. He looked away from her and made a move to put his sunglasses back on. This was a bad idea…

She put her hand over the sunglasses and he looked back at her. She stared back into his eyes. "I love you… Dick Grayson." Dick looked wide-eyed at Artemis. They had agreed those three words would only be used if they truly and fully meant it and after a few months it was pretty implied when they caught each other's eyes.

Dick kissed her hungrily, and the two made out heavily until their lungs burned. When they finally broke, Dick put his arm around her. "I love you too Artemis Crock. More than you'll ever know."

* * *

**Okay so I'd been reading a bunch of BirdFlash stories because I was dying to write one. Then somehow I came up with this... I don't know how but I did.**


End file.
